Duncan McLaren was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland, his parents taking him with them when they moved to Currie, Hamilton, Carlisle and Hemel Hempstead. Having lost his bearings somewhat, he read geography at Cambridge, before setting out on a career as a chartered accountant that was never going to work out. Next, he spent 16 years in a south London bedsit, honing very different life-skills, getting increasingly interested in the creativity of individuals, both in the visual arts and in literature. In 2003 his mother suffered a stroke, so he moved back to Scotland to be on-hand for his parents in their old age. Now he lives with his partner, Kate, in a house that’s 30 yards from the one in which he was born. Between the two homes is a church that has a peregrine falcon roosting on top of the spire, which they call Enid. However, as they’re not sure of the bird’s gender, they sometimes feel they should be calling it Evelyn.